Fenny Compton

Yesterday we ordered a paper by phone from the Folly Shop, as we did on the way out. The shop notice said that it opened from 'about' 9 am - Mike walked down to be there on time (to give us a reasonable chance of making our goal for the day) only to find no-one around. after waiting a while he walked back to the boat and later returned (via the rubbish bins!) just as a loud toot on a pick-up could be heard as it came over the hump back bridge.

Once the man from the shop had opened up - apparently he makes the loud sound to let locals (mainly on boats we guess) to know that papers are in! Also in the queue was a man from the last boat we saw coming down the locks last night. We had told them about ordering a paper and they had done the same - also for a Guardian.

The slight delay meant that we were ready to cast off just as another boat came past, meaning that locks for the rest of the flight would be against us. As it happened, two or three were helped by boats coming down so not too bad.

Along the way we took more photos of the buffalo - a photo is included here for the reason that we have almost no others for today: the camera battery ran flat and then the camera would not start up again.

By this time we knew that to make it through Claydon locks (there is a possibility that one or more of the girls will join us tomorrow so we need to be in an accessible location) we would need to have 'have lunch on the run'. In any case, the summit pound is largely uneventful although there was often a steady stream of boats coming the other way - usually in threes on tight bends or at blind bridge holes!

We stopped briefly at Fenny Compton water point to fill the tanks and Christine popped to the shop in the pub where she bought milk and cheese.

Most of the day was quite chilly but still not uncomfortable. Only briefly when we were cruising was there a slight drizzle for a short while but once we had moored it did become a little wetter. All day was very overcast.

We arrived at Claydon Top lock (they were set against us) just after 4 o'clock and, with no other boats around, it was just after 5 when we left the bottom of the flight of five locks. Again we found them relatively easy to operate, very different from a year ago. Mike demonstrated he single hand operation (at least of exiting the locks) whilst Christine went ahead to set the next one.

Nowhere along the next pound has a line of sight for the satellite except one small place - needless to say another boat was already moored there with its dish pointing through the gap in the hedge! We will just have to do without it tonight and catch up on the latest anguish from Albert Square another time.